On a whim, I went into my local library in Kings Heath recently. I’m not entirely sure why.

Now, before people remind me of a library’s primary function, I am acutely aware that libraries contain books. I am not Jedward.

That, however, wasn’t why I stopped off before my regular tour of duty in an unforgiving urban consumer battleground (or ‘weekly shopping trip’ for those who haven’t endured the challenging delights of the ‘Heath’s major supermarket).

I went into my local library because it’s a nice building; 100 years old and weather-beaten into character. I also popped in because libraries are one of the few public buildings these days where you’re guaranteed a bit of quiet time to yourself

(If you’re keen on tranquil, enclosed solitude, I can also recommend watching a silent, black and white French film at the blockbuster-hungry, enormo-cinema at Star City – bit weird, but at least no-one can see you crying at the end of the film. Not that I was crying, mind).

The main reason I was drawn to Kings Heath Library? Because it’s gratifying to be in a distinctive building playing an active part in making its community a little bit better.

That’s why I’m looking forward to visiting the new Library of Birmingham, announced this week as opening on September 3, 2013.

But I’m also intrigued what it means for some of Brum’s other landmark buildings – especially those not quite so active.

There’s a lot of noise about the value of this library in modern-day Brum, whether you’re considering the aesthetics, the building’s cost or the functions of a major bricks and mortar information centre in an increasingly IT savvy world.

Whatever your stance, a library is a community focused entity, somewhere which can clearly identify a locality, and somewhere that openly offers something useful to its area’s residents.

So, the new library’s an eye-catching building that will serve a real purpose. Which is great. The thing is, Birmingham has a lot of other eye-catching buildings – but no-one appears to know what to do with them.

Look at the Pitmaston building in Moseley. Actually, looking at the Pitmaston building is more or less all you can do. This magnificent building, built by local architect Holland W Hobbis, has remained vacant for years – the reasons for this seem a bit muddy, but there’s something a touch demoralising about something so grand doing…well, nothing.

Moseley and Kings Heath are quite bad for this kind of inertia. The Jug of Ale pub, a place of musical heritage with the likes of Blur and Oasis having played there, closed four years ago. Four years later? Lots of planning, lots of suggestions but not much actual action.

The Kingsway Cinema has suffered a similar fate, though someone did try last year to raise awareness of its plight by the unconventional route of torching it.

Moving away from the city centre, much has been said about Island House. This angular treasure was a highlight of the otherwise ill-defined Eastside area at the fringe of the city centre.

Like the other buildings I’ve mentioned, it had a rich history and is pretty impressive to look at too. Unlike the others, it was still operational.

However, a campaign to try and save the 100 year old building from demolition has, to date, proven unsuccessful. So, even when we have a distinctive building of historic significance that’s serving a purpose, the city risks devaluing this asset.

What frustrates with these, and other, examples around Birmingham is the confusion around what’s happening to these buildings.

One Brummie friend of mine, who demanded (he’s a demanding kind of chap) I write something on this topic, voiced an understandable annoyance that you can walk around the city day after day, year after year, and think to yourself each time “what are they doing with that building?”

It rankles even more when you notice multinational grocers opening up another urban consumer battleground before you can utter the words ‘planning permission’.

Neil Elkes, one of those proper journalist types working on the Post, already provides excellent coverage of the machinations of council planning, English Heritage and other related agencies.

What the city could do with, however, is even more scrutiny, accountability and transparency surrounding the future of significant buildings within the city.

Maybe this scrutiny will eventually come from the public, rather than from the authority or from the media.

Perhaps protecting our landmark assets will be high on a prospective mayor’s list of priorities – notably, Ray “John Bull” Egan was seen supporting the Save Island House campaign, but it would be pleasing to see other candidates take on such matters without feeling the need to sport a Union Jack waistcoat.

No doubt other big cities suffer from similar problems with buildings of historical and aesthetic relevance. That said, I could do with convincing why we have to accept this in Birmingham.

So yes, let’s get excited about the shiny, new library. But let’s not allow our other exciting buildings to be forgotten.

* Keith Gabriel is a Birmingham-based PR expert